It is widely believed that there is strong association between physiological stress and an individual's social status in their social hierarchy. This has been claimed for all humans cross-culturally, as well as in non-human animals living in social groups. However, the relationship between stress and social status has not been explored in any egalitarian hunter–gatherer society; it is also under investigated in exclusively female social groups. Most of human evolutionary history was spent in small, mobile foraging bands of hunter–gatherers with little economic differentiation – egalitarian societies. We analysed women's hair cortisol concentration along with two domains of women's social status (foraging reputation and popularity) in an egalitarian hunter–gatherer society, the Hadza. We hypothesized that higher social status would be associated with lower physiological indicators of stress in these women. Surprisingly, we did not find any association between either foraging reputation or popularity and hair cortisol concentration. The results of our study suggest that social status is not a consistent or powerful predictor of physiological stress levels in women in an egalitarian social structure. This challenges the notion that social status has the same basic physiological implications across all demographics and in all human societies.

Background: Approximately 12-15% of patients with intracranial aneurysms (IA) have affected first-degree relatives, and are considered to have familial intracranial aneurysms (FIA). Individuals with FIA are at higher risk for aneurysm formation and subarachnoid hemorrhage. THSD1 is the only gene to be associated with nonsyndromic FIA at this time. Our study aims to find rare DNA variants that are major risk factors for FIA in our cohort of patients. Methods: To date we have enrolled 37 affected and 31 unaffected people from 16 families. We have done exome or genome sequencing on at least 1 person from each of 12 families. Results: A rare p.(R686W) variant in THSD1 was found in 1/12 families, but did not cosegregate fully with disease. While less attractive as the primary cause of FIA, we cannot rule out the potential modifying effects of THSD1 p.(R686W) in this family. A second candidate, an extracellular matrix gene within a chromosomal region previously implicated by familial mapping studies, contains rare variants in 4/12 of our families. All four variants are predicted to be damaging. Conclusions: Alongside environmental risk factors, individual FIA families may also have complex rare variant contributions to their disease, such as digenic and multi-locus contributions.

Chagas disease is an important emerging disease in Texas that results in cardiomyopathy in about 30% of those infected with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Between the years 2008 and 2012, about 1/6500 blood donors were T. cruzi antibody-confirmed positive. We found older persons and minority populations, particularly Hispanic, at highest risk for screening positive for T. cruzi antibodies during routine blood donation. Zip code analysis determined that T. cruzi is associated with poverty. Chagas disease has a significant disease burden and is a cause of substantial economic losses in Texas.

A single 0.3 ppm injection of methoxychlor into the Athabasca River, Alberta on 4 June 1974 for 15 min caused catastrophic drift for a distance of over 400 km, and a subsequent large decrease in the drifting population. This decrease, when expressed as a percentage reduction from pretreatment drift, is in close agreement with percentage reduction of standing crop recorded by other sampling methods. The time required for the pesticide to affect different species varied considerably but was not related to the mode of feeding. Methoxychlor residues above ambient levels in water were recorded in all the invertebrate populations sampled. Caged animals had significantly different residues than the natural populations. The use of caged animals as indicators of environmental damage is therefore questioned.

The Working Group on Active B Stars (WGABS) was re-established under IAU Commission No. 29 at the IAU General Assembly in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1979. Its main goal is to promote and stimulate research and international collaboration in the field of active B stars. Originally known as the Working Group on Be Stars, its name was changed at the 22nd IAU General Assembly in The Hague, Netherlands in 1994 when the research interests of the group were broadened to include activity in all B stars, especially pulsating OB stars, interacting binaries, stellar winds, and magnetic fields.

The meeting of the Working Group on Active B Stars consisted of a business session followed by a scientific session containing nine talks. The titles of the talks and their presenters are listed below. We plan to publish a series of articles containing summaries of these talks in Issue No. 40 of the Be Star Newsletter. This report contains an account of the announcements made during the business session, an update on a forthcoming IAU Symposium on active B stars, a report on the status of the Be Star Newsletter, the results of the 2009 election of the SOC for the Working Group for 2009-12, a listing of the Working Group bylaws that were recently adopted, and a list of the scientific talks that we presented at the meeting.

The SMC represents an exciting opportunity to observe the direct results of tidal interactions on star birth. One of the best indicators of recent star birth activity is the presence of significant numbers of High-Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) — and the SMC has them in abundance! We present results from nearly 10 years of monitoring these systems plus a wealth of other ground-based optical data. Together they permit us to build a picture of a galaxy with a mass of only a few percent of the Milky Way but with a more extensive HMXB population. However, as often happens, new discoveries lead to some challenging puzzles — where are the other X-ray binaries (e.g., black hole systems) in the SMC? And why do virtually all the SMC HMXBs have Be star companions? The evidence arising from these extensive optical observations for this apparently unusual stellar evolution are discussed.

The X-ray binary population of the SMC is very different from that of the Milky Way consisting, with one exception, entirely of transient pulsating Be/neutron star binaries. We have now been monitoring these SMC X-ray pulsars for over 10 years using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer with observations typically every week. The RXTE observations have been complemented with surveys made using the Chandra observatory. The RXTE observations are non-imaging but enable detailed studies of pulsing sources. In contrast, Chandra observations can provide precise source locations and detections of sources at lower flux levels, but do not provide the same timing information or the extended duration light curves that RXTE observations do. We summarize the results of these monitoring programs which provide insights into both the differences between the SMC and the Milky Way, and the details of the accretion processes in X-ray pulsars.

Objectives: This study assesses theimplications and cost-effectiveness of extending the role of midwives toinclude the routine (24-hour) examination of the healthy newborn usuallycarried out by junior doctors.

New poly(fluorene-thiophene) alternating copolymers are described in which either the dioctylfluorene or bithiophene units in poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-bithiophene) (F8T2) are replaced by other fluorene or thiophene-based groups, respectively. Improvements in solubility are realized when the bithiophene unit of F8T2 is replaced by dihexylterthiophene or dihexylpentathiophene units. Melting temperatures are also lowered by 50 – 100°C in these polymers when compared to F8T2. Replacement of the bithiophene unit of F8T2 with a dihexylpentathiophene unit also results in a significant improvement in hysteresis (< 2 V vs. 3.5 – 5 V for F8T2). Initial results are also reported on the thermal cleavage of the C8 side groups of F8T2, which yields an insoluble polymeric semiconductor film that continues to exhibit transistor switching characteristics as part of a bottom gate device.

This study investigated the accuracy of prediction of neurodevelopmental outcome at 1 year using cerebral proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and structured neonatal neurological assessment in term infants after presumed hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury. Eighteen control infants and 28 infants with presumed hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury underwent proton MRS investigation. Studies were carried out as soon as possible after the cerebral insult, most within 48 hours. Infants had an early structured neurological assessment at a median of 19 hours (range 0 hours to 9 days) from the presumed hypoxic–ischaemic insult and a late assessment at a median of 7 days (range 3 to 25 days) during recovery. The maximum cerebral peak–area ratio lactate:N-acetylaspartate measured by proton MRS accurately predicted adverse outcome at 1 year with a specificity of 93% and positive predictive value of 92%. Neurological assessment had a tendency for false-positive predictions. However, both early and late neurological examination can be used as a reliable indicator for a favourable outcome at 1 year having negative predictive values of 100% and 91% respectively.

Development of all follicles with antral diameter ≥2 mm during the oestrous cycle was characterized in goats of the Murciana-Granadina dairy breed by daily transrectal ultrasonography. Of nine does initially synchronized in oestrus, six returned to oestrus and three did not. In the first six does, mean cycle length was 21·2 (s.e. 2-3) days. There were mean total numbers of 6·2 (s.e. 0·6) small (2 to 3 mm), 1·9 (s.e. 0·3) medium (4 to 5 mm), and 1·0 (s.e. 0·2) large follicles (≥6 mm) each day but only numbers of large follicles differed with day of cycle (P < 0·01). The diameters of the largest follicle (LF1), the second largest (LF2) and the remaining follicles (RF) varied with day of cycle (P < 0·01). The LF1 and LF2 varied with day in similar patterns but the difference in diameter between them (P < 0·05) was greatest on days 7 and 9 (2·3 mm) and days 19 to 23 (2·2 to 3·8 mm), and least on days 2, 15, 16 and 18 (0·5 to 0·8 mm). The relationship between the LF1 and LF2 to the RF differed only early or late in the cycle when concentrations of progesterone were low (P < 0.05). There was some evidence to support follicular growth in waves. Although the number of apparently new follicles detected (4·8 (s.e. 0·4) per day) did not vary with day of cycle, follicles emerging at 3 mm over a 48-h period that grew to a diameter of ≥6 mm were distributed non-randomly in three of six cyclic does. The three cystic does that did not return to oestrus by day 25 had large follicles (16 to 28 mm), fewer new follicles (3·3 (s.e. 1-1) per day; P < 0·01) than cyclic does (4·8 (s.e. 0·4) per day) and fewer follicles that became largest (4·0 v. 8·8 in cyclic does; P < 0·01).

A novel polymer has been developed for use as a thin film dielectric in the interconnect structure of high density integrated circuits. The coating is applied to the substrate as an oligomeric solution, SiLK*, using conventional spin coating equipment and produces highly uniform films after curing at 400 °C to 450 °C. The oligomeric solution, with a viscosity of ca. 30 cPs, is readily handled on standard thin film coating equipment. Polymerization does not require a catalyst. There is no water evolved during the polymerization. The resulting polymer network is an aromatic hydrocarbon with an isotropie structure and contains no fluorine.

The properties of the cured films are designed to permit integration with current ILD processes. In particular, the rate of weight-loss during isothermal exposures at 450 °C is ca. 0.7 wt.%/hour. The dielectric constant of cured SiLK has been measured at 2.65. The refractive index in both the in-plane and out-of-plane directions is 1.63. The flow characteristics of SiLK lead to broad topographic planarization and permit the filling of gaps at least as narrow as 0.1 μm. The glass transition temperature for the fully cured film is greater than 490 °C. The coefficient of thermal expansivity is 66 ppm/°C below the glass transition temperature. The stress in fully cured films on Si wafers is ca. 60 MPa at room temperature. The fracture toughness measured on thin films is 0.62 MPa m ½. Thin coatings absorb less than 0.25 wt.% water when exposed to 80% relative humidity at room temperature.

A novel polymer dielectric derived from tris-perfluorocyclobutene(PFCB) monomer has been investigated as a thin film dielectric. The dielectric constant of this material has been measured at 2.35. PFCB is applied from a hydrocarbon solvated solution using conventional spin coating equipment onto the substrate and produces highly uniform films after curing at 300 °C.

This paper describes the processing and properties of films derived from PFCB, and examines the interactions between the polymer and metals at the interfaces. In particular, the interfaces formed by the deposition of Cr or Co onto PFCB are unchanged after 30 minutes at 390 °C. The interface formed by the application of the polymer onto Ta is similarly unaffected by high temperatures. The interfaces formed by the deposition of Ta or Ti onto the polymer surface did not remain intact, with substantial quantities of the metals permeating the polymer after high temperature exposures. This behavior is discussed relative to the thermo-physical properties of the metal fluorides.

The development of high density interconnection (HDI) technology in multichip modules (MCM's) will establish a new level in the hierarchy of electronic systems. The modules use organic insulating layers which, because of their low dielectric permittivity and loss, enable circuits with maximum density and speed. However, differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE's) for the insulating layers, the interconnects, and the substrates, produce residual stresses in the various components during processing. These stresses must be understood to engineer reliable designs for MCM's.